You can feel the excitement in the air.. students are feeling the end of the school year, which is literally around the corner, and making summer plans.
As parents, we're excited for them as well; schedules are more lax, the days are longer and we can enjoy the warm weather outdoors.  Children will be getting together with their friends outdoors and in. They will also be spending more time online so this is a good time to speak to your children again about safe social networking practices.  Take a look and see what social media sites they're on and do your homework to ensure they are safe and on age appropriate sites.
Teach your child how to recognize cyberbullying and what to do if they encounter a bully online. Safety is what is important so remind them that when they are in chatrooms they don't necessarily know who they are chatting with. 
Remind your child not to share any personal information with anyone.
Take the time to slow down and enjoy the summer with them, it's over so fast.

Together with Newmarket Parent Network and with financial assistance from the Ministry of Education Pro Grant we are offering a fantastic speaker series for our Community.  The followings a list of the speakers and you can register on www.eventbrite.com to reserve a seat. These are free events and free childcare for school aged children is available when you register.  We will also be collecting items for our local food panty.

Alyson Schafer, Therapist: Wednesday, January 18th @ 7:00 pm @ Crossland Public School "Empowering Independence in our Children"

Jordan Axani, Mental Health Researcher: Monday, February 27th @ 7:00 pm @ Newmarket High School  "Whats Your Big Lie?"

Chris Vollum, Socia Media Expert: Wednesday, March 22nd  @ 7:00 pm @ Stonehaven Elementary School  "Social Media, Fitness for Parents"

Tad Milmine, Bullying Ends Here & Una Wright, YouthSpeak: Tuesday April 18th @ 7:00 pm @ Rogers Public School "Overcoming Bullying" and "Life's Challenges"

Jennifer Kolari, Connected Parenting: Monday May 8th @ 7:00 pm @ Glen Cedar Public School "Saying "NO" when the World says "YES" and Practical Strategies for Dealing with Anxiety"

Well another school year has started.  How many students have been bullied
already?  Are students feeling like they belong and have a voice in their school?  Are things going to change? 
 
This year we should really start to feel change, shouldn’t we?   Bill 13 should be in full force
and affect.  Schools are mandated  to have proper procedures in place to deal with bullying and these procedures are to be shared with School Councils.  Schools should honour and take part in Bullying Awareness Week – week of November 18, 2013.   All schools are mandated to have Safe School Teams, in York Region – Positive Climate for Learning Teams.  Do they exist in every school?  Do students have a safe place to report bullying?  Is every school and  community building safe and inclusive environments?
So many questions...........

At Bully Free Alliance of York Region we always encourage everyone to be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to bullying.  I want to share a story a friend of mine shared with me about her son,
Benjamin. Benjamin is starting back at school (grade 4) after a year of home schooling, because his parents thought it was better for him then being at a school where he was bullied. 
Here is her message to me:

 I just wanted to tell you my son is back in school after his year of home schooling.  Since
he had so much bullying before, he told me he would do anything he could to stop
it from happening to anyone.  Since he is much bigger and stronger now in grade 4 he stopped a grade 5 girl from being bullied after a boy pushed her down.  My son even ran off to bring the boy to
justice!  The girl is very nice to him now, a new friend!  I swear he thinks he is a superhero!!!

So let’s maybe start the year off by taking a lesson from our superhero, Benjamin.   Be an upstander.  It is a good thing to stand up for someone, including yourself.  Report any wrongdoing.  Be a good friend. Thank you Benjamin!  Hopefully your story will encourage others to become a superhero too!